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Should Hackers Get Their Own Logo?
Ridgelift writes "Eric S. Raymond is proposing a new logo for Hackerdom. 'The Linux folks have their penguin and the
BSDers their demon.
Perl's got a camel, FSF
fans have their gnu and OSI's
got an open-source
logo. What we haven't had, historically, is an emblem that
represents the entire hacker community of which all these
groups are parts. This is a proposal that we adopt one - the glider pattern from the Game of Life.'"
H4x0r3z
the above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head
I figure a lot of people are going to say something along the lines of "to hell with this, we don't ALL need a logo", but IMHO it's just a cool little thing that could easily be embedded (or hidden) in things like logos or programs (being just a 9x9 matrix).
Though I think it would probably be best and easiest represented as pixels rather than circles on a grid.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
You want a group that has been, historically, non-conformists to agree on something so singular as a logo?
Here's a cup, there's the hoover dam. You'll have better luck.
btw, I think it's more fitting that hackers do not have a logo, personally.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
0) why the heck does a disparate group of computer enthusiasts (excuse me, hackers) need any logo
at all? so we can "recognize each other"? I don't get it. seems creepy.
1) it needs color
2) doesn't need the grid lines, looks too much like tic-tac-toe. keep just the
dots.
3) how can it not be copyrighted or trademarked? if it's really in the public
domain, how can ESR assert that hackers (excuse me, crackers) and
advertisers aren't supposed to use it?
4) does anybody really care what ESR thinks any more?
In the chance that ten years from now hackers everywhere will refer to this slashdot article as the origin of their symbol, I just wanted to post in it.
...but I kinda doubt it.
...a snatch shot with a bottle of beer embedded inside.
Woops, wrong group, sorry.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
That glider is pointing downward and will eventually crawl off the bottom right corner of the screen.
The glider should be going up, to symbolize progress.
Your design to a real part online: Big Blue Saw
From the page: "Here is a snippet of XHTML you can paste into a page.
' ></a>"
<a href='http://www.catb.org/hacker-emblem/'>
<img src='http://www.catb.org/hacker-emblem/glider.png
Note that this isn't valid XHTML.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
This seems kind of ridiculous and pointless. Sure, it's an interesting idea, but it seems like a kind of needless branding of an identity/concept. Plus, you'll see all the least qualified latching onto it first, to prove that they're so plugged in to the culture.
And then in three months, it'll show up on peoples' resumes. And business cards. And we'll all die a little bit.
Speaking of which, time to update my resume, this may be the key to getting my hyper-1337 job.
I am not Herbert.
Look, there are 8 gliders like this - 4 directions, and 2 states, if I remember right.
Why on earth did he pick one that goes DOWN?
Why not pick one that goes up and right?
Crackers should have one that goes DOWN.
Education is the silver bullet.
and the BSDers their demon.
That's a daemon for them.
The BSD Daemon
Daemon not demon
bash$
I personally think rule 30 would be a better logo, but may we should pick something from the Game of Real Life.
A giant statue of Mr. Eric Raymond out of Mt. Hood or something. It seems like this man has an insatiable ego that cannot be fulfilled.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Call me old school, (okay, a lot of you will call much nastier things than that) but I just don't like the idea of another logo. Notice that on Raymond's little proposal page there almost as much space devoted to who should *not* use that logo than to what the logo is actually supposed to represent. This starts to make me feel that the purpose is to draw lines on the ground and say "you can come in but you "others" have to stay out".
Cheers, Dcobbler.
Those of us that work on MS Windows would like something depicting lemmings going off a cliff or maybe lemmings landing head first on the rocks below.
Admittedly, the "glider" was cool. Everybody played life, everyone knew that crosses were stable and gliders would fly till they impacted - it's a universal identifier for a lot of people.
But the BSD logo and the Linux logo are brands, they're symbols for a codebase, not a loosely and contentiously organized group which most people off the street would mistakenly identify as a word for computer criminals. This really doesn't make any sense- what are you branding yourself as? Are you an ESR/hacker? What if by some fluke you just never played life?
Anyway if we are going to give someone the responsiblity of branding an entire MOVEMENT, I'm not sure it should be some gun crazed wack job that would scare most moms out of the day care center.
If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
is what I thought was more traditional. But while on the subject, what group is this for? The original hackers? Crackers? Script Kiddies? Phone Phreaks? All of the above? It seems to me that before you can give a group a logo, you have to actually define that group first. On the site, they do seem to have a statement of beliefs or whatever, but I think the guy has a little bit big of a head to act like is the authority on hackers.
I have no
The amazon.com shopping cart, inverted and appropriately rotated...
My next comment will be ready soon, but moderators can beat the rush and mod it up early.
the need for a logo is obvious. After all, /. was forced to use the linux logo for this.
Hrm.......
I would sugest a cluttery desk with dirty ash trays, lots of empty half crushed soda-pop cans, O'reilly books of various pedigry and colors spewn around the room and book shelves. Pillow hair, coffee cups, the abient glow of a monitor, and half eaten pizza. Combine these things into one logo and it would rule all other logos.
It isn't a lie if you belive it.
Take a look
Functional, yet stylish. It gives us a connection to those hackers who have gone before us.
(Note to the humor impaired: This is supposed to be funny. Laugh, or at least try to.)
Someone you trust is one of us.
If you don't know what a glider is, or why it would make a good emblem, or if you're dubious about having an emblem at all, read the FAQs page
The word "hacker" has become a shibboleth. It's a word that seperates people in-the-know from people who are not. Back in biblical times, a town was named "Shibboleth" which non-native people would mispronounce. If a guard or other authority wanted to know if someone was native to the town or a possible outside threat, he would have them pronounce the name of the city. If they could pronounce "Shibboleth" properly, they were in. If they couldn't, they were sent on their way.
Why the history lesson? Because the word "hacker" has gained a lot of baggage and is now a shibboleth. Once used to describe people who were true geeks who wanted to understand how things worked, it now carries the negative connotation of someone who breaks into computers.
I like the word "hacker" because true hackers understand what it means. I also think in that same vein the logo Eric's chosen is a good one, because people "in-the-know" will understand what it means. The fact that I thought the "Game of Life" referred to the Milton-Bradley game shows I still have more to learn. So now I'm reading up on the history of the actual game, which shows my desire to really learn and understand.
Which is what a "hacker" wants to do anyway...
Ruby on Rails Screencast
... you can't use the icon.
You've never heard of the Game of Life? You're right then, a Hacker Emblem doesn't apply to you.
If your a hacker your probabally with a group or something that has a logo.
Hackers don't need nor want a logo. Does ESR really think that most hackers are just dying to put logos on their coffee cups, hats, shirts, etc? If a hacker wants to express himself, he'll do it through hacking.
If we do have a logo, I think it should be a vector rendered shilouete of a fat, unwashed, unshaven hacker sitting in front of a PC.
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
"...that is a title of honor that generally has to be conferred by others rather than self-assumed."
Like that's gonna happen. If this does catch on, it will be plastered on every wannabe's website. It will be abused and misapplied, just as the name hacker is treated.
Perhaps hackers are unique, even among themselves? Perhaps a logo does not represent all (or most) hackers? Perhaps claiming to have a logo that represents all hackers (or hackers in general) is presumptuous?
"It's my job to think of these things."
Again, perhaps this is presumptuous? Historians (like say, of American history or what have you) don't tell us what our symbols should be. (Well, if they do no one is listening).
More importantly, hackers do not necessarily need a symbol. Hackers aren't all in the same group and they certainly are not out to advertise themselves and get people to associate an image or idea with them. I would say they probably don't care what the general populous thinks, let alone if they know what a hacker is.
I For one suggest that we take a vote on this preferably with Diebold Touchscreen machines. Thas way the truly determined hackers will win.
So how do you draw a virgin?
Trace this picture?
You want a group that has been, historically, non-conformists to agree on something so singular as a logo?
Sure. Even anarchists have a logo, for god's sake!
Hackers are a rich subculture, and it's been that way for decades. Hackers share common life views, activities, and experiences that are different than the mainstream. So they're distinctive and weird, not unlike peace-activists, republicans, christians, motorcyclists, masons, homosexuals, etc. They've all got their logos that some wear with pride and others choose not to. But if you do choose to fly the flag, at least there's a community understanding of what it means.
One problem I see with a logo though, is that hackers tend to hate posers (since hacking is more about competence than simply attitude). And it's easier to pose with a logo.
Don't think so. The rules behind the simple game of Life are very easily enumerated. Every single "phenomenon" that arises is not emergent, it is clearly and totally predictable from the rules. Emergent phenomena are those that cannot be predicted. It's even better when they violate the rules that start them in motion to begin with.
Just because some things happen that are really cool when you smear a bunch of bits to "on" and start the game up, does not mean you're witnessing emergent phenomena. It just means you lack the brainpower or patience to follow the rules through and predict the outcome of your smears or shapes, before starting the game up.
Can't open source hackers have ONE THING that goes down on them???
Geez, it's not like they're getting girls to do it.
my blog
How long before the clothing is out?
I thought Hackers/Crackers were represented by "the hat" You can even buy one at thinkgeek
WURD!!
Also: If you tiled them (with no extra space, or even with a one-cell margin between, probably), they'd cease to glide. Which brings up a great, though CPU-draining, and possibly annoying, possibility: a huge life-game running as your wallpaper.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
The caffeine molecule, a substance that permeates hacker culture.
It even symbolises some of the humour that hackers are known for.
http://jesus.everdense.com/
I would have thought 5ux0rz would be more appropriate for most people that call themselves hackers, especially ones that think it would be c001 to have a logo :-p
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
Stripped or Striped? Just wondering if this is a YRO or an XXX post.
flossie
Write now. Defend liberty
you mean to tell me that this flying window thing isnt the hacker logo?
Sure. Even anarchists have a logo, for god's sake!
Are we talking about the "peace sign"? If we do get a logo, it will become trendy, probably in a way worse than all-your-base and "profit!" and the like and then...
One problem I see with a logo though, is that hackers tend to hate posers (since hacking is more about competence than simply attitude). And it's easier to pose with a logo.
Exactly. It will become like 1337 speak -- something that people who think they're on the inside often use, something posers flaunt.
Penguings and Devils aren't about some obscure, fleeting concept as a movement or culture. They belong to some useful pieces of software. They're different than the obscure concept ESR wants to give a visual brand to.
(Although I'll hand it to him, if there was anything that'd do it, that'd be it.)
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
The big question is, would you tattoo it on your arm like Charles Petzold and his Windows logo?
Chip H.
#|O|#
-+-+-
O|#|#
-+-+-
O|O|O
I'm not convinced about this. While I may not always agree with ESR, I think he's innocent here. From memory, Aunt Tillie was originally coined by David Woodhouse on LKML. ESR picked it up and ran with it, sure (adding a nephew, Melvin, his girlfriend Penelope, and other characters for no apparently good reason), but he didn't originate the term.
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
You can't be a winner if you've ever played Conway's Game of Life
Yea...I'm pretty much a jerk.
Isn't it good enough to be able to flaunt your support of something? Even if you're not particularly good enough at it to be considered a useful part?
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
First thing I thought is, "who the FUCK would come up with such a lame, pathetic, anti-hacker mentality idea as this?" I missed the ESR reference.
Can't say it surprises me though.
A logo? A LOGO? Hey Eric, how about everyone who meets qualifications (do you need to qualify to be an official hacker? ) get team jackets? Oh, oh yeah, and we could all listen to the same hacker music, and play the same hacker games, and and...
Last I remember, any non-derogatory definition of hacker included (or at least implied) a strong sense of independence. Let's all show our independence by wearing a logo!!!
Bah.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
"It's my job to think of these things."
I can't think of a worse way for a group of people such as hackers usually are to pick a logo. Sure, Anarchists have a symbol, but i doubt it was dreamed up by the self apointed "Anarchist Historian" who ran the idea past a few focus groups before prclaiming it to the community.
What exactly does a penguin have to do with Linux? Or a cammel with Perl? Donkeys and elephants with Democrats and Republicans? No think tank sat down and analyzed what would be the most symbolic logo to represent those things. Some guy thought it was cool and used it, and other people agreed and went along. Symbols really _should_ be groupthink, not personthinkandgroupgoesalongwithit.
If hackers really want a symbol, a real symbol will fall out of the collective. If they want to promote such a process then there should be some kind of forum where hackers can suggest all kinds of symbols that they think would be cool as a method of priming the pump. Instead of then voting on said symbols, everyone should then sit back and see which survive best in the enviroment.
The best symbols are the ones that survive competition with other symbols, not ones that are created with the intent of being "meaningful." A committee could come up with a more "meaningfull" symbol than the Darwin Fish, but the Darwin Fish is what you see plastered on cars all over the place.
Maybe the glider would survive best in such a process, but the arrogance of the way in which it was proposed really annoys me.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I can't really dispute the validity of the glider logo since, even if I never really got into the whole Game Of Life thing (my personal early-hacker obsession was fractals) but I don't really like the logo itself.
I'd go with a design that replaces the circles-in-squares with rectangles, about twice as wide as high and with the "dead" sectors completely empty. Something like this.
For black-and-white media, the red squares become whatever the foreground colour is supposed to be and if there are lots of colours available, the brightness of each rectangle could be adjusted to indicate the "aliveness" of that rectangle during some stage of the glider's life cycle.
Yes, that form of the letter "H", crapily formatted to not look like one, due to the assumption that HTML "knows what you mean", is the perfect logo for incompetent and ignorant hacker wannabes!
I'm putting it im my sig lines and sig files right now, since, well, I'm not just the incompetent hacker club president, I'm also a client.
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
A white hat (for 'bad' cr^H^Hhackers)
The actual type of hat could be modified geographically. Americans get a stetson, the English a bowler, Canadians a deer hunter, with the flaps, Moroccans a fez, etc etc. Us Aussies will take either an Akubra or a beanie.
Another idea is just a big machete, or possibly an axe. ie: 'hacker' maybe put it in the hands of a maniac, like the guy from here
Yay me!
Are we talking about the "peace sign"?
No, this. [image search]
Even though I don't like the round cells in Eric's version (I made one with square cells) I have to admit the glider itself is a great choice for an emblem.
However, it's not an emblem for all the hackers, and that's the beauty of it. Only those who want to gang up and work as a team should adopt this emblem.
Individual hackers won't feel the need to use logos. In the Game of Life individual cells die anyway.
The glider represents the effort of hackers that work as a team with the same objective. Remember, the previous cells of a glider also die as the glider moves forward (just as old hackers 'retire'), but the point is that new cells are created (new hackers joining in), in a cycle that makes an entity move forward (hackerdom itself if you will). Can't think of a better choice.
I love this.
Looking at that glider brought back so many memories. I remember reading about Life in Scientific American, many years ago-- I think 19 years. I remember typing in the text version on my Apple II, out of "Basic Computer Games" by Dave Ahl and Creative Computing, sometime in maybe 1983 or thereabouts, and being amazed.
I remembered a program I wrote in the mid 90s where you could evolve rulesets, and all the bright colors and optimism that went along with the "Long Boom." All that came out of hackerdom, you know.
I remembered my personal experience with Wolfram. (Overwhelmingly negative, by the way...)
I think this is an excellent idea, I think it's a simple and graphically effective logo, and I can see it catching on. For me this was an iconically powerful image. Surprising what memories it evoked, taken in the current context.
It's an icon of simplicity and stubborn singleminded progress.
Intolerance for ambiguity is the mark of the authoritarian personality.
What is the emblem? A glider. Duh.
Why have an emblem at all? What Eric says about community is true, but hackers recogize each other by their hacks (and posers, by the lack of). Not as easy as a logo, but authenticity is guaranteed.
Why this emblem? A glider isn't appropriate. A glider is "startling and unexpected" for about ten seconds. But nothing new spontaneously emerges from a glider. It just monotonously churns along - no change in speed or direction - until it vanishes over the edge of the screen. Hell, why not use lemmings!? At least *sometimes* they don't jump.
"Social engineering?" "mugs or t-shirts?" 3.Profit! anyone? I don't need a logo - I'm not being marketing. I don't need a "resident historian" - I don't care who used to live here.
Actually, to be a true hacker, one would make it as efficient as possible. In this case, you'd make it a 3x3 image and enlarge it with the image tag in the web page. For example this page
I put this icon together in some 20 minutes or so. How's it look to you?
TANSTAAFI: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free iPod.
....and quit posturing like he speaks for 'The Hackers.'
Good god, that guy has ego.
A Good Intro to NetBS
Of course hackers are in need of a logo. We are a disparate group of loosely knit geeks who all have a common passion.
I believe also that any true hacker will readily admit ESR's contributions to our community, and possession of the title of "hacker" himself, perhaps I'd even go so far as to call him an "Alpha-hacker".
What's to prevent us from clinging to some logo that we can use to at least superficially identify other people as like-minded. If I'm sitting at a cyber-cafe and see a glider taped to some guy's laptop as he surfs some C, I'm going to recognize that I'm looking at someone who just might be a hacker. This is not a "status symbol" in the real world, in fact most people in the real world will never acknowledge ESR's hacker logo unless someone does something Really Big And Stupid while publically displaying it.
And why not the glider? We're hackers, we all know who JohnConway is, and what fun his Game of Life is. I'm willing to bet half of us have had an infatuation with it at some point or another, and half of that has even written their own little implementation of the thing.
If you don't like the logo, go for the spirit and choose a Up-Left glider, or a Cross (although that might be taken religiously), or you could be really cryptic and slap a 3rd-generation glider on the back of your T-Shirt (a 6th-generation "pump" looks pretty good too).
Sure there will be posers, but as they say, "You will know them by their works". If the code doesn't back up the glider, then just laugh and show them what real "elite" hacking looks like.
Just my 2 cents worth, I like ESR's logo, and will probably be putting a glider of some form on my website in the near future. Just to set myself apart that little bit more.
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>" > /> /> /> /> /> /> /> />
<!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd
<svg width="64.0" height="64.0">
<g fill="none" stroke="#808080" stroke-width="1">
<rect x="0.5" y="0.5" width="63" height="63"
<rect x="0.5" y="21.5" width="63" height="21"
<rect x="21.5" y="0.5" width="21" height="63"
</g>
<g fill="#000000">
<circle cx="11" cy="53" r="9"
<circle cx="32" cy="11" r="9"
<circle cx="32" cy="53" r="9"
<circle cx="53" cy="32" r="9"
<circle cx="53" cy="53" r="9"
</g>
</svg>
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
Hackers don't travel in herds that can be easily labeled or logo'd. The moment some will decide to slip under the proposed abstract banner, will be the same they will be derided for being posers by others who refuse to wear the designer tag. Who will be correct? Neither, and the purpose of the logo (to categorize and unite under) will have failed.
Only one response appears to be appropriate, and it was first declared by an earlier 'hack'er. In addition, other witticisms can be found here.
= 9J =
Ah, when you put it that way, the picture is completely different! Now it looks to me like the upper half of, yes, a hacker, sitting by his/her terminal, facing to the left. The upper block is a head, the rest is the left shoulder-elbow-arm-hand.
This could lead to a whole new psychological science. Instead of showing us Rorschach ink blots, they could show us big 3x3 pixel pictures!
~llauren
Do you know many people not involved in IT who know what the game of life is? I wouldn't even recognize a glider.
This logo is better than others, but the Linux penguin had success because:
- he's cute (*)
- everybody knows what a penguin is,
- I can buy a toy which is like this penguin
- nobody cares that a penguin has in reality absolutely nothing to do with OS science.
(*) Drawing is important; I suppose ESR chose something so simple to draw because he's not a good drawer - I would do the same thing in his place, but I do not claim to give a common symbol to millions of people.
Having said that, the idea of a common drawing to identify yourself as a geek or nerd is a good one. It could percolate into the common knowledge. I'm hoping only that script-kiddies won't put it on every defacement...
Christophe (Don't hesitate to point out my spelling and grammar mistakes, I want to learn - Thanks).
I can already predict what the effect of this will be. The logo will be used by the halfwits and groupies; serious people will avoid it.
As such, it makes a good filter - anybody who uses this logo is clearly a moron, and therefore you know to avoid them and ignore whatever they say.
photoshop gives me a 2-color gif of only 45 bytes. and this one is 224 bytes inline:
Are we talking about the "peace sign"?
No, that's the CND logo (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament)
The Anarchist logo os also held within a circle, but is an upper-case A with the horizontal bar extended on both sides to reach the circle. The ends of each diagonal leg, and the angle at the top of the A also reach the circle.
Listening for the sound of the coming rain...
Anyone else notice this oh-so-subtle jab at free software in the "How to be a Hacker" FAQ?
(We used to call these works ``free software'', but this confused too many people who weren't sure exactly what ``free'' was supposed to mean. Most of us, by at least a 2:1 ratio according to web content analysis, now prefer the term ``open-source'' software).
(*eye's roll*)
It's bad enough that the word "hacker" has come to be used to refer to "crackers" and malicious coders, now we want the press to use a logo? Every unethical "hacker" out there will start using it to try to give themselve some legitimacy, then the next huge MS exploit that is created by these guys will be seen as coming from a "community" that is represented by logo X. How many times to we have to watch a company RUN from a brand and logo gone bad due to some glitch in marketing or implementation?
This is a BAD idea. I have a hard enough time trying to get people to make a mental distinction between "good hackers" and "bad hackers". Cracker doesn't really make it easier and now ESR wants to use what I assume will be a brand-recognizable like logo?
Count me out, brother!
Sig
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars
and it looks like circle's winning... ;)
Just raise the taxes on crack.
I think a lot of people here are overlooking the purposes of a hacker logo. Apparently a lot of those who posted didn't even bother to read ESR's 2 short pages about the emblem. Here are a few points on some of the goals:
All in all, I like the idea and the logo. I suggest to those who don't like it that they simply not use it and not make a fuss about it, so that they won't ruin it for the guys like ESR who are trying to accomplish some great (seemingly quixotic to many) goals for hackerdom.
Mi klopodas varbi por Esperanto.
Think of how the term "hacker" was corrupted in the first place.
What makes you think the same won't happen with the logo. I can just see the same steps happening:
1. A couple of script kiddies, who don't even understand what those downloaded rootkits do, start placing the logo on defaced websites and such. Or placing it all over some warez sites, in between porn popups and l33t text.
2. A few retarded and clueless journalists clamp on the "hacking is evil, and this is the logo of these evil people" idea. You know, writing an article about a _real_ hacker won't rake in the readers. It's just a guy working long shifts to make some complicated program. Not many people want to read about that. Whereas doom and gloom journalism about these evil 'hackers', who'll bring our cyber-civilization to its knees, those sell.
3. Your average PHB clamps onto the journalists' definition. It's easier him to understand stuff like "wow, these guys are motivated by evil goals" than "whoa, someone actually likes computers and spends his/her free time learning and experimenting".
So anyway, think about it this way. Would you tell a random client nowadays that you're a hacker, or that you sympathize with hackers? Want to be that they'll instantly understand "cyber-terrorist" by that? You can try to educate them all you want, they'll just fall back to the definition that the media feeds them.
Now take the logo. Do you have any doubt that in a couple of years wearing that logo on a t-shirt will have the same effect? And what do you think will happen after the company loses a few contracts because the client saw you wearing that evil symbol? I can just see it banned at work.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
If mine is still a glider, I can say "that's just my style", the way that different programmers can code the same thing and have the source come out completely differently.
Impressive as it is, it requires a whole foundation (a simulator for Conway's Life), just like Linux needs the GNU tools to compile and to be useful. And, just like GNU/Linux, everyone will ignore or disregard ESR's contribution once it becomes popular.
If you put more than one glider, of different orientations, on the same Life domain, they will either interact to do amazing things, ignore each other, or anihilate each other - just like different hacker's code!
And, of course, different hackers will say "the default sucks", and change the orientation, make fancier gliders, etc., which will work for them but not for anyone else, bringing shouts of "diversity if good!" and "why can't everyone just work on the same logo!"
I think ESR might be on to something.
A macker is someone from the Middlesborough area of the UK. Technically Mackem, but it gets shortened a lot.
Personally, I love the two key keyboard.
Except not quite the same thing -- Brights are trying to form a labelled community, whereas hackers already have one and are just getting a logo for it.
chuk